1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a display device such as a television broadcast receiver, and in particular, the present invention is related to a display device that displays an operation guide that indicates instructions assigned to operation switches.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, various types of display devices provided with a display such as television broadcast receivers and PC (personal computer) monitors have been available. As in typical electronic apparatuses, display devices are often provided with operation switches (such as press button switches arranged on their main bodies) for accepting various instructions given by a user.
For example, in the case of a television broadcast receiver, in a normal state, a user may try to give, as necessary, various instructions such as instructions for “switching ON/OFF the power”, “switching input lines”, “switching (in the ascending order) channels to be received”, “switching (in the descending order) channels to be received”, “adjusting the sound volume (to turn it down)”, and “adjusting the sound volume (to turn it up)”.
Thus, television broadcast receivers are provided with operation switches to which these instructions can be assigned. This enables television broadcast receivers to accept operation performed by a user on the operation switches and to operate according to the instruction given by the user.
Some display devices have specifications such that a plurality of operation modes are prepared in advance, and that operation is performed according to an operation mode that is currently set effective. For example, as for television broadcast receivers, a number of television broadcast receivers are equipped with an operation mode (a menu mode) for performing various settings, in addition to an operation mode (a normal mode) for performing normal television broadcast receiving operation.
In the menu mode mentioned above, such television broadcast receivers accept operation performed on the operation switches to thereby accept inputs of various settings (instructions different from those given in the normal mode). Incidentally, provision of operation switches dedicated for the menu mode would result in disadvantages in terms of size and cost reduction of products. Thus, in many cases, operation switches are commonly used for various operation modes (here, for the normal mode and the menu mode). That is, in different operation modes, different instructions are assigned to each of the operation switches.
Also, for the purpose of making the operation switches user-friendly, information (an operation guide) showing what instruction is assigned to each of the operation switches may be displayed. Patent Document 1 (JP2001-238146) discloses a display device in which an operation guide is displayed on a display when a user's hand is found by a non-contact sensor to have approached the television broadcast receiver.
Displaying the operation guide on the display in this way makes it easier, in comparison with a case in which the operation guide is presented on the housing of the display device or on the operation switches themselves, to enhance the visibility of the operation guide, and to reduce the space for display to thereby realize a compact product.
As described above, in some display devices, a plurality of operation modes are prepared, and a plurality of instructions (instructions based on different patterns prepared for different operation modes) are assigned to each one of the operation switches. In this case, since instructions assigned to each operation switch are different depending on which operation mode is currently effective, it is desirable that the operation guide is displayed corresponding to the currently effective operation mode.